The Cutter
by sdbubbles
Summary: Jonny's trying to convince Jac of some music to play for their baby...little does he know the wheels he has sent spinning.


**A/N: This is just a little bit random, and perhaps slightly silly, but I liked the idea so there we go ;) the song is "The Cutter" by Runrig.**

**Sarah x**

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Serena looked up at the dimming sky above; it was about to rain. In fact, it looked like it was going to utterly bucket down. The sky was quickly turning black, the car park lit only by the lights and a little moonlight the flooded occasionally between thick clouds. She sighed and tightened her scarf slightly as the breeze turned colder.

She heard a pair of laughs behind her; she turned to see Edward walking out with Mary-Claire. Again. What was he playing at? She had to be over a decade younger than him. And funny. And pretty. And everything Serena wasn't. She was slightly startled by how jealous she actually felt...she was meant to hate the man, for crying out loud.

She only noticed his car next to hers when she heard his footsteps diverge from Mary-Claire's. Was this him behaving himself? "You've made a new friend, I see," she sniped, instantly regretting it as she realised just how much like a bitter, jealous schoolgirl she sounded. She had never been able to truly push him out of her heart. She doubted he would ever really leave her heart, if she was honest with herself. She couldn't just flick what she felt for Edward off and on at will.

"Mary-Claire?" he replied innocently; Serena rolled her eyes. The one thing Edward never was was innocent. "Yeah, she's a good laugh," he shrugged. He seemed not to be bothered about, or even notice, the accusation and slight jealousy and hurt in her question.

Serena let out a sharp laugh. "Of course she is."

The sound of a familiar Gaelic tune blaring from behind them froze them both. Serena had not heard that distinctive sound for many years, having picked it up sometime in the 1980s and not let it go until she managed to let go of Edward. She looked around at him with a small, coy smile as she recalled the times that melody relived – a garden party in Fife, more years ago than she cared to remember without feeling ancient.

There was a deep voice singing, "_Aaaa-aaaa-lbaaa...Aaaaa-lba_..."

They both looked around to find Jonny hopelessly trying to flip through his music and convince Jac to give it a go playing such things to their baby – Jac was less than convinced, to say the least.

"I am _not_ having my child learning that gobbledegook!" she protested. "Really, who even speaks Gaelic?"

"Islanders," Jonny immediately retorted, and Serena smiled having once had the same dispute with her father when she once said that having children learn Gaelic was pointless and a waste of time, effort and money.

He flicked his thumb across his phone and an upbeat guitar started playing. Serena met Edward's eyes; this was the first time she was unable to dance with him when she wanted. But he seemed to read her mind. He held out his hand and said, "Like the old days?"

Reluctantly she took it and let him lead her while she sang at the top of her voice. "_When you arrived in Canada, you walked the streets; out of work, out of money, prospects bleak; now the plane comes down from the morning sky; and you touch the land where the fire won't die_."

She heard an incredulous laugh from the vague distance. There stood Jac and Jonny, the latter joining in with her. "_Oh, Johnny, you're home, man; that's a long road you drove us down; it's only a moment; since diesels turned_."

She felt Edward lean down to whisper in her ear, "Your voice is still as beautiful as it ever was." She repressed her smile and allowed him to pull her a fraction closer, breaking all her self-imposed rules as the music played the infectious tune she wished she could forget.

There was a sudden heaviness in the air as the rain began to fall; it started as drizzle until it quickly became a downpour, and Serena could only laugh and allow her ex-husband to dance her around as he pleased.

"_And the blade cuts clean through the island soil; the years roll back and the world grows small_," she sang. She did not lower her voice – there was no need. She glanced to see Jonny carefully turning Jac around, who looked mortified that she was being made to dance. Serena felt her pain. "_You stand on the banks in the wind and the rain; and all of your money now can't hide this pain_," she sang loudly along with the familiar melody booming from Jonny's back pocket. She felt Edward's hand automatically fall from her waist to the small of her back.

"_Oh, Johnny_," Serena and Jonny sang together with wide smiles they could not disguise. "_You're home, man; that's a long road you drove us down; it's only a moment; since the diesels turned_."

"_The heath flame is burning bright; burning every night; it's winter in Ontario_," Serena grinned up at Edward. As far as she remembered, the last time they had danced was at her parents' wedding anniversary party. "_Wheels that turned us village kids; still carry through the heaths; but they no longer turn for you_."

"_So you hold your mother_," she sang on the crash of a drum, lost in their world as Edward spun her under his arm. "_And you bless the air; with the tears of the emigrant; tongue of the Gael; and the plane takes off in a clear blue sky; life's a long lost list of last goodbyes_."

Jonny beamed over at Serena and blasted out with the phone and with her, "_Oh, Johnny, you're home, man; that's a long road you drove us down; it's only a moment; since diesels turned_; _ Johnny, you're home, man; that's a long road you drove us down; it's only a moment; since diesels turned_..."

As the instruments took over the song, Serena's restless heart took over her cautious mind, letting Edward pulled her in until they were chest-to-chest, turning while their eyes locked together. How had it come to this, them dancing in the car park of Holby City Hospital in the pouring rain, laughing like they had never been apart?

When they finally stopped Serena was soaked to the skin, her hair dripping water in her eyes. She grudgingly allowed Edward to touch her face so he could wipe away the melted mascara from under eyes. She felt like she was twenty-six again, falling for the man she knew was one of those guys who was nothing but trouble.

She vaguely heard a call of, "Goodnight, Edward, Ms. Campbell," and the parents-to-be walking away from them.

Serena's brain screamed at them to come back so she didn't succumb to what she knew could hurt her. But her heart was – always had been – drawn to Edward, despite the fact she knew he was a bad idea. "Edward," she whispered through the pounding rain. "Please don't do this to me."

"What?" he asked her, yet again pleading innocence and ignorance. He closed what little gap there was between them with less than a single step forwards. If he was any closer he would have been standing on top of her. "You can't deny that there was something there, Serena."

"That's what music does, Edward," she reminded him. "You know that's what it does to _me_." His arms snaked around her waist, and she felt her heart beating faster in her chest against his. She closed her eyes for only a moment and reminded herself that to let him in was never wise. Always bound to cause some heartache. But his embrace felt right when she _knew_ it was wrong. She knew it was dangerous though her heart tried to trick her into feeling safe. "Did you plan this?" she demanded, her whisper accusing and slightly frightened. She was alarmed by her own breathlessness in his arms, nothing to do with the exercise of dancing between cars.

"Would I do that?"

"Yes."

Edward smirked slightly at how well she still knew him. "Well, I didn't." His eyes were, for once, honest.

She closed her eyes and waited for him; knowing what he intended to do filled her with fear and yet it uplifted her to know that there was still something he felt for her. She felt him kiss her softly, their lips moving slowly together for the first time in many years. She was surprised when he immediate reaction was to pull him into her body until they were pressed hard against each other, and she felt his hand tangled in her hair.

She was soon gently pushed backwards, her legs pressed against the boot of her car as he leaned into her. She wasn't sure why she was doing this. She was sure of why she wanted him – she still loved him. She had come to acknowledge that, and even accept it, but she was always sensible enough never to act on it until now.

She pulled back completely breathless and lost for words, unable to comprehend what she had just done. Impulse had never driven her like that before. It had steered her on occasion, and usually in the wrong direction, but never had her impulses of attraction sent her hurtling into Edward Campbell's kiss. At least not since she had divorced him long ago. "Ellie will be wondering where I am," she created an excuse to leave him there and go.

She felt his hand on her face, his lips pressed against hers once more. This time her instinct to let him love her was restrained by common sense, but common sense had always been the thing that made her lonely. And she didn't want to be alone anymore. Eleanor was all grown up, an adult in her own right, and soon Serena realised she would be on her own before she knew it. In light of that, she took the risk and let herself plunge into his kiss for only a moment before she drew back. "I really do need to get home now, Edward," she warned. His hands drifted to her abdomen as he kissed her face aimlessly until he reached her lips while she tried not to laugh. "Edward!" she exclaimed. "_Home_."

She wriggled free of his grasp and got into her car before he could catch her. "That's not fair," he accused lightly. "You can't just let me kiss you and then walk away with no explanation."

"Woman's prerogative," she shrugged with a slight smirk. "Anyway, you know there can only be one explanation."

"And what's that?"

"I felt it too." With that she drove away, leaving him caught in the torrential rain. She flicked the heaters on; she was so flushed that she doubted she would really need them but she needed to dry out a little.

She thought on that experience for a moment longer. She had just fallen for him all over again. And it was all Jonny's fault for playing that song. It was one they simply could not hear without it bringing them together. Through their marriage it had been the one song that showed up at every wedding reception, every quiet party, every funeral wake...everything. It was _their_ song, as her mother had so often joked. And it just had to be heard when her resolve and certainty over Edward and how she felt about him was beginning to waver. It wasn't fair. She knew where this was headed, and she knew she could not stop her heart from loving the man who filled it with the most emotion, be it good or bad.

She made a mental note to murder Jonny Maconie first thing in the morning.

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**Hope this is OK!  
Please feel free to leave me a review and tell me your thoughts!  
Sarah x**


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